


Across the Ages

by Oh_Toasty



Category: Merlin (TV), Torchwood
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Children of Earth Fix-It, Homosexuality, Immortal Merlin, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-22
Updated: 2015-06-22
Packaged: 2018-04-05 16:39:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4187136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oh_Toasty/pseuds/Oh_Toasty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin is alone until Arthur is reborn in 6861. Then he is reunited with the man he loves and twenty eight years later the two of them find themselves in the past meeting two people they already know, Ianto Jones and Jack Harkness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Across the Ages

Jack Harkness was finally looking at all of the paperwork stacked on his desk when the alarm went off. He stood up instantly and peered at the CCTV as he slid on his coat. He was shocked to see that it was just two men, who happened to be oddly, waiting inside the tourist information center. 

As he waltzed into the hub Jack yelled, "Ianto, you're with me. The rest of you go back to work."

Ianto walked to Jack's side asking, "What are we doing?"

"There are two men in the tourist center, we're going to go help them out." Jack said smirking. 

However, Ianto frowned, "Why would anybody be in there, everyone around here knows that it's crap and tourists shouldn't be able to find it on any map app."

"Maybe they walked by and thought they'd stop here?" Jack speculated but now he felt the tiniest amount of worry. 

"Maybe," Ianto agreed before falling silent as they entered the tourist center. Turning to the men who were talking in whispers he asked, "Hello, may I help you?"

"See," Merlin proclaimed. "I told you they were here."

"You told me that they were here sometime with in these two centuries, forgive me If I doubted it was now."

Jack and Ianto had been watching the banter with amusement but with the mention of centuries they'd grown suspicious; Jack even reached his hand into his coat for his gun. 

Turning away from the Arthur, Merlin introduced himself, "Hello, I'm Marvin and this is Arthur Prince. We were wondering if you could help us out?"

Ianto watched as Arthur gave Marvin a side glance at the name he'd used and wondered what Marvin was hiding from then. Then he responded to Marvin's question, "Perhaps if you told us what you needed assistance with?"

"Would you mind taking this inside," Merlin asked gesturing towards the entry way that Ianto and Jack had come through, "It's rather sensitive."

"Sorry, employees only," Jack said watching the two men carefully. 

"Just tell them already Me-Marvin, they aren't going to let us in until you do." Arthur said watching Jack's face carefully. 

"Fine," Merlin huffed, "We know that you guys are Torchwood. We came here hoping you could help us. We've been, displaced, from our own time."

"How did you know about Torchwood, Arthur said you weren't even sure which century it's located here." Ianto said looking at Merlin. 

"I'm the director of Torchwood in 6889, forgive me if I haven't studied the records well enough to memorize where the Cardiff one was located when." Merlin smiled as he finished speaking, his eyes locked onto Jack. 

"Why should I believe you?" Jack asked just as Merlin had expected. 

Smirking Merlin replied, "Because I have knowledge from your Torchwood files. I know that you're immortal and you don't trust me because you don't know why you would ever give up your position as director and allow somebody who looks like their twenty-two to take over. "

Stopping Jack from taking a step forward by placing a hand on his chest Ianto said, "Looks like you were right. We should've had this talk inside the hub. Let's go finish it there, at least I can make coffee there."

Following Ianto, Merlin said, "Thank you, a cup of something hot could do us good, I'd forgotten how wet Wales could be."

By then the four men had entered the hub and were met with the team's clamoring. Rolling his eyes, Ianto went to go make the coffee he'd promised. 

"Enough," Jack finally roared. "If you're quiet for three seconds we can explain what's going on to you."

The room quieted as the team waiting on Jack's explanation. When it came it was nothing but a quick summary, "These two men are from the future, somehow they ended up here and came to us for a way back home. Now I expect you to remain silent while we get the rest of the story out of them."

As everybody settled into a seat around the room Ianto returned with the coffee. Smiling, Merlin took a cup from Ianto and brought the liquid to his lips. As it slid down his throat Merlin's magic grabbed at it pulling him into a vision so strong that he dropped the cup he was holding. 

At the sound of a shattering cup everybody turned to see where it had come from. Arthur was the first to jump to his feet and run to Merlin. He knelt besides his feet and began to whisper soothingly into the warlock's ear.

When Jack attempted to approach Arthur turned and roared, "Stay away, he needs space right now."

The Torchwood team remained silent having seen the terror in Arthur's eyes. However they had also seen the exhaustion and were left wondering how often this occurred. 

Meanwhile Merlin was left maneuvering throughout his vision. He'd found himself in a room watching as Jack and Ianto talked to a giant tank filled with 456. He watched as the room slowly filled with poison and Ianto died a death he wouldn't come back from. Then Merlin watched Jack's reaction to Ianto being gone. How he'd allowed himself to kill his grandchild and Merlin knew that he had stop Ianto's death. He was the one who made Ianto in to the immortal that Merlin knew in the future, he was the one who introduced yet another soul to the curse of immortality. Merlin closed his eyes to hold back the tears that threatened to fall and then opened them once more only to find himself back in the Torchwood hub. 

Arthur was there, already prepared to comfort him. He wrapped his arms around Merlin and placed a kiss to his temple before murmuring, "It'll be okay, I've got you älskling."

"What the hell is going on here?" Jack asked. "You're going to tell me everything from how you go here to what the hell that little psychotic break was."

"Give him a minute Jack!" Ianto barked, "Can't you see he's still shaken up."

"It's fine," Merlin said pushing Arthur off to the side so that he could look at the Torchwood team. "I'm ready to talk. Where would you like for me to begin?"

"How about with a medical exam?" Owen suggested, "After what just happened I think that it's necessary."

"Don't worry about that," Arthur said shaking his head, "there's nothing that this time period can do to help him."

"Maybe there is, we have stuff that's come in through the rift." Tosh said looking curious. 

"If Marvin consents to it we'll check him out later after he talks to us." Ianto suggested. "For now let's get started on the story. I expect both Marvin and Arthur have a lot to say."

"Yes, we do." Arthur said as he sat in a chair besides Merlin and grabbed his hand. "We just aren't sure how much can be said with out disturbing the time lines."

"Say as much as possible," Gwen instructed. 

"Alright then," Arthur said taking a deep breathe, "I shall begin. Marvin is my tjän'mål'vakt and I am his kung'mål'beva."

"Arthur, you shouldn't have told them that!" Merlin exclaimed. "You may have put all of us in danger!"

"Excuse me but, what does that mean tjän'mål'vakt?" Tosh asked looking up from her computer. "None of our translation programs know it."

Surprisingly it was Jack who answered, finally wrenching his gaze from Merlin and Arthur. "It means that Arthur is Royalty and Marvin is his slave husband who guards him."

"Don't say it like that," Merlin barked. "That's not what it means, I may be a tjän'mål'vakt but I am not a slave none of are. We were chosen before the birth of the next royal family member to be there with them for as log as they live. It is a marriage that is filled with love, whether it is platonic or not is a choice, and we always do what is best for our kung'mål'beva whether or not it is what they have asked of us."

"My apologies," Jack said, "I didn't mean to offend your culture."

"Yes you did," Arthur muttered glaring at Jack as he held Merlin's hand tighter. 

"Sorry, but you said you were chosen before Arthur's birth to be his tjän'mål'vakt, how does that work if you're younger?" Ianto asked looking at Merlin questioningly. 

"I'm not younger," Merlin said raising his brows. "Earlier I said I look twenty-two not that I am twenty-two. My aging slowed down to synch itself with my kung'mål'beva."

Silently Merlin told himself that it wasn't a lie. That technically his aging had synced up with Arthur's. After all he'd stopped aging when Arthur had died. 

"We really should return to the story now," Arthur told them. 

"Not yet," Gwen said, "why would that put us in danger? Whatever type of marriage you two have shouldn't concern us."

"If you'd let Arthur finish his story maybe you'd already know," Merlin snarked to tired to be polite. 

"Now as i was saying," Arthur continued, "I am Marvin's kung'mål'beva however he is an, unusual, tjän'mål'vakt because of these people grew jealous and were seeking to kill me and destroy our bond in hopes of stealing Marvin for themselves."

Owen Interrupted, "How could they do that, if only Royalty can have a tjän'mål'vakt?"

"If a normal citizen knew the rituals they could have a gemål bindning, which is the name of the bond, however the rituals have been kept from them in order to keep the bond away from people who wish to hurt Camot. A gemål bindning brings a person a lot of power." Merlin explained. 

"Let them finish the story, no more interruptions," Jack commanded. 

"I shall continue it from here," Merlin said. "There is a person named, Telly, they are a former member of court who lost their tjän'mål'vakt because of a mistake they made. Now they are power hungry and want to take a new tjän'mål'vakt to get revenge on the court for allowing their first tjän'mål'vakt to die. However Telly has been with out a complete gemål bindning for so long that they forgot everything that occurs in one. Telly attacked Arthur while I was gone, they hadn't remembered that I could sense his emotions. I realized almost instantly what was occurring and I took the resanär, I believe you'd call it a teleporter, to our bedroom. There I used my själ svärd to fight off the assailants. However there where to many and right as they got to close I hit a button on my emergency device and we found our selves in a park in this time."

"So why can't you use the emergency thing to get home," Owen asked once he was sure that Merlin was done speaking. 

As Merlin thought to himself, 'because there is no emergency device only my powers and it's really tiring to jump that far also I cant jump back because there's another version of me here', Arthur answered. 

"It's only a one way trip. It was never supposed to take us back in time anyways it was supposed to change where we were in the castle."

Irritated that Arthur had brought that up Merlin thought to him, 'It was an accident, I panicked okay?'

He watched as his kung'mål'beva nodded and felt a small burst of pride. It couldn't be easy for Arthur to find himself in a time that was to primitive for one side of him and two advanced for the other. 

"Okay," Jack said, "We'll find a way to get you home. For tonight Ianto will take you to stay in his guest room. Don't try to pull anything, I'll be over there in a few hours, for now I'm going to stay and make arrangements to get you home."

Ianto led Merlin and Arthur out of the hub and towards a waiting Torchwood SUV. As he slipped behind the wheel Arthur and Merlin made their way to the backseat not wanting to be in separate rows. 

When they arrived at Ianto's flat they were led to a spare room asked, "Does this work for you, or should I lay out a pallet?" 

"This is excellent, thank you," Arthur said as he supported his tired husband. "However before we go to sleep Marvin wishes to speak with you."

"What would you like to talk about?" Ianto asked puzzled. 

"Today when I dropped my cup," Merlin began pausing to take a deep breath, "it was because I saw you, and how you're going to die."

"Why should I believe you?" Ianto questioned with a raised brow, "I know nothing about you."

Merlin ignored him and continued "I have the ability to make you immortal like Jack, well by exactly like him because you wouldn't die and come back you'd be like me and not die." 

Brows furrowed Ianto looked at Merlin searchingly, "What do you mean like you?" 

"I'll tell you the whole story then, if it'll make you consider my offer. But you have to consider it, because I've seen what happens if you die." Merlin said sounding distant as he remembered the vision. 

"I'll listen," Ianto agreed, "but I can't promise anything else."

Arthur spoke up, "You have to promise me you won't tell Jack, he doesn't know in the future and he can't know now."

"I can keep it from Jack so long as it isn't life threatening," Ianto agreed. 

So Merlin began, he told of how he'd first met an arrogant prince with whom he'd fallen in love with and almost given his life for multiple times. When he reached the part of Arthur's death he had tears running down his cheeks and his husband murmuring his apologies for ever leaving. Still Merlin trudged on telling Ianto how he'd been alone do thousands of years in a land that no longer believed in magic. He didn't mention everything he'd done in that time frame, it was far to long, but he hit all of the major highs and lows of the time. Then he told of how in 6860 Queen Ygraigne of Camot had asked him to form a gemål bindning with her son. He'd almost refused until she had placed his hand on her belly and said, "Can you not feel the bond?" Merlin had, he recognized Arthur at once and had agreed to the queens proposal. Now, twenty-eight years later, here they were.

"And you said Jack is still around in your time, that you've met him?" Ianto asked. 

"Yes, we're actually friends with him." Arthur answered, "If you do this you'll be with him so that he isn't alone."

Merlin interjected, "However, you won't be able to tell him how you became immortal until after we are gone. That way it won't affect the future to much." 

"I'll do it," Ianto said quietly, "I won't be leaving much behind, I hardly ever see Rhiannon, and I'll be gaining so much."

"Go to your bed, I'll cast the spell there since it's sure to tire you out." Merlin replied. "We've got to hurry though, Jack will be here soon."

The trio made its way to Ianto's bedroom and as the Welshman crawled under the covers Merlin began to chant. Five minutes later he stopped and there was a burst of golden light the emerges from Ianto's skin an then appeared to be sucked in. 

Arthur then carried a half asleep Merlin away from Ianto and towards their bed for the night, "you don't do anything by halves do you?"

All he got in reply was a sleepy mumble and he smiled softly as he laid his tjän'mål'vakt down on the bed. 

When they awoke the next morning it was to the scent of frying bacon. Arthur and Merlin dressed in the clothes that had been laid out for them on the desk before making their way to the kitchen. 

There they discovered Jack was the one cooking; he gestured at the pile and said, "take as much as you want."

Merlin snagged some instantly, "I haven't had bacon in ages"

"What is bacon?" Arthur asked staring at the meat as if it had offended him. 

"It came before your time älskling," Merlin told him sweetly. 

Behind his newspaper Ianto snorted and said, "Stop teasing him Mer-Marvin."

Jack interrupted then to say, "we've got to take our food on the road with us, you're ride will be at the hub within the next hour."

As they loaded into the same cars as last night Arthur complained, "I hate cars, they're so slow."

"Faster than horses though aren't they?" Merlin asked innocently causing Ianto to snort with laughter. 

Eventually they reached their destination and Jack brought them down through the invisible lift. They wandered around until they all found a seat that worked for them and then Arthur asked, "So how are we getting home?"

"My friend has a way to safely transport people through time, he should be here soon," Jack replied even as there was a sudden whooshing noise and papers began to fly everywhere. 

Within moments the TARDIS had touched down and Merlin held back a groan as he realized that the Doctor had seen him before under a different name; Sometimes he hated Time travel. Merlin could only hope that this was a version of the Doctor who's either forgotten him or hadn't met him yet. He wasn't that lucky, the Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS and after shaking Jack's hand noticed him. 

"Jethro is that you," He'd asked, "But you aren't from 6889!"

Merlin winced saying, "I go by Marvin now and I wasn't from, what year were we at midnight? Look I'll explain on the way home but can we go now?" 

"No you can't, What the hell Is this about you not being from 6889?" Jack thundered. 

"Does it really matter, that's my home now and I'd like to return." Merlin said sighing and leaning back into Arthur's embrace. 

Thankfully Ianto placed a hand on Jack's shoulder and said, "Just let them go home."

Unbeknownst to them the Doctor had pulled out his screwdriver and was analyzing what Merlin was. It gave a beep as the results came in and drew everybody's attention to it. 

The Doctor looked at the results in confusion muttering, "That makes no sense, are you human or not?"

"Yes," Merlin answered, "now can we go?"

The doctor hesitated before asking, "you'll tell me everything on the way there?" 

Arthur nodded, "He will."

"Then let's go!"


End file.
